USDA opens 24 million acres of Conservation Reserve land to cattle grazing, aims to ease grain prices

May 29, 2008

The US Department of Agriculture announced that it would open 24 million acres of the Conservation Reserve Program to cattle grazing. The announcement is intended to take pressure off the price of grains by reducing feed demand from livestock companies, but analysts said that it was possible that ranchers would respond to the announcement by increasing herd size.

Pressure mounts to release 7 million acres from Conservation Reserve for grain production as price, shortage fears grow

The American Bakers Association joined a chorus of organizations calling for release of seven million acres of land from the US Conservation Reserve Program, which it said could be accomplished "witho...

Farmers take lands back from Conservation reserve; government compensation “not even comparable” to market revenues

In North Dakota, farmers are taking lands back from the Conservation Reserve Program to put them back into production. "Last fall," according to the New York Times, "they took back as many acres as ar...

Iowa State professor says high corn prices the result of wheat prices, not the other way around

In Iowa, a professor at Iowa State said that high corn prices are slowing down the pace of ethanol production, but would give the ethanol infrastructure development time to catch up. Professor Robe...

National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act introduced in US House: oil drilling, coal-to-liquid, Renewable Energy Reserve Fund planned

23 members of the US House of Representatives have introduced the National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act that would lift many restrictions on offshore oil drilling, while provi...

Soybean reserve stocks plunge, corn shortages ease, as leading indicators for feedstock prices are released by USDA

Soybean stocks have plunged, creating conditions for further biodiesel feedstock price increases, but corn shortages eased in December according to the USDA. For December 2007 compared to December 200...

Indonesian, Thai and Philippine palm cultivation to increase to 5 million acres to support biodiesel production

A roundup of Southeast Asian biofuel plans shows that Indonesia plans to reserve 13.5 million acres for biofuels by 2010, of which 3.7 million acres will be palm oil plantations. Thailand has indicate...

Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Policy